Scooby-Doo: Velma's Tail
by LJ58
Summary: Velma wakes up with an unexpected discovery, and that is only the beginning of a mystery that might just spell the end for Mystery, Inc. in ways even the brains of the team ever imagined.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own any characters from Hanna-Barbarra, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Velma's Tail**

**By LJ58**

**1**

Velma rolled over in the motel room bed, and groaned as she felt something kinking her spine more than the sagging bed.

She was beyond grateful that Daphne chose to 'sneak' into Fred's room, leaving her to sleep alone for a change. Shaggy and Scooby were off in another room, likely still gorging themselves knowing those knuckleheads.

Even as she rolled over, the kinks in her spine became secondary as something sharp sent pains right up her back as she felt as if she had just lay on a knife, or something.

Yelping, she jumped up, more than she rolled over, and landed in a crouch beside the bed.

Moaning, she put her hand back to her throbbing backside, and gasped as she felt the strange appendage dangling there.

"No….way," the voluptuously rounded brunette gasped, her free hand moving behind her now to confirm what that first hand had suggested.

She knelt there, both hands behind her, and couldn't quite grasp the reality of a thick, ropy tail now dangling behind her well-rounded bottom. Her dark eyes rounded as Velma felt for the base, and realized this was no prank. The appendage seemed to be growing right out of her own flesh and bone. Her other hand circled it, and slid down the hairy length to find the end was just as real, and just as sensitive.

Forcing herself to her feet, she reached for a lamp near the bed on a nearby table, and switched it on.

She turned, eyeing her blurry reflection before she slid her glasses into place, and then looked into the mirror on the nearby bureau again.

She swallowed hard as she saw the dark furred tail that dangled behind her, rising just over the stretched band of her plain, white panty where it had emerged. Apparently, while she had slept.

She turned one way, then another, seeing the tail just seem to grow right out of her backside atop her firmly rounded bottom.

Swallowing hard, she stepped closer, giving the tail a light tug, and cringing as she felt the resistance that seemed to suggest it was connected to her own spine.

"There has to be a logical explanation for this," she complained. "Has to be," she told herself, staring at the tail, and only that.

Walking into the bathroom, she stripped down, and checked her entire body. Other than the peculiar appendage, she looked the same as ever. No other aberrations at all. She frowned, and tried to figure out what was happening now.

She went back to the bed, pulling on only her shapeless gown, that like her usual clothes, hid her overly voluptuous frame. She had never tried to trade on her sexuality, and favored using her brain to get through life. Sure, a lot of guys wrote her off at first glance, but she wanted nothing to do with anyone that shallow.

Just now, though, her mind wasn't helping.

Of course, she was seriously distracted by the….thing now attached to her body.

Sitting carefully, she gently pulled the tail around her to study it again.

Long. Ropy. Thick, dark hair. Not like Scooby's tail. More like…..

She shivered as she lightly stroked the tail.

It was sensitive.

The hair was still growing, too. Thicker. Longer.

She frowned at that.

She was reaching for her special case with her research materials when she noted the bandage still on her left forearm.

She frowned at the white padding, and shook her head.

"Surely not," she frowned. "That's…..myth. Just….superstition."

Still, four days ago, when she and Daphne were coming back from a book-signing related to one of their more infamous cases, the redhead's car had blown a tire on an isolated country road. Daphne still being utterly clueless about some things, Velma had to show her how to change her own tire, since the woman didn't drive it often enough to know how it worked. Understandable, since they were usually all in the Mystery Machine when on their way to, or back from some case.

She had been replacing the tire when they had heard something in the woods near where they had stopped on the side of the road.

Even as she had scooped up the tire iron, something had come out of the forest, and charged them. Daphne had screeched, and leapt into the car, slamming the door behind her. That left Velma kneeling beside a flat tire, and holding a tire iron as the dark shape lunged at her.

She had time to make out slavering fangs, and swung the tire iron even as claws slashed at her, and fangs snapped at her throat.

Throwing herself to one side, she ended up tripping over the flat laying near the bumper, and went down on her side. Which, ironically, likely saved her life as the big animal she had yet to make out had lunged again, it's fangs still seeking her throat, but finding her left forearm instead.

She slammed the small, steel bar into its head, twice, and then a third time, and the animal let go, backing away, shaking a huge, shaggy head as if dazed.

In that instant she realized she was looking at a genuine wolf. One the size of a small pony.

She stared at the massive lupine, and raised the tire iron again.

The lupine snarled, then turned, bolting away as a truck drove up the tree-lined lane toward them. She lay there, trembling, one arm bleeding, and still clutching the tire iron as two men in coveralls jumped out, and came over to where she lay.

"You okay, little lady," one of the men had asked, a burly bear of a man with a scruffy beard.

"Ah, yeah," she said, still looking at the dark forest beyond the glare of the headlights as Daphne stared out over the seat, her green eyes wide with fear. "I think…. I think a wolf tried to attack us," she had said, and had sat up, examining her bloody arm.

"Wolf," the other man had chortled, a thinner, leaner man with a faint wisp of a moustache. "Shoot, gal, ain't no wolves in these parts."

"Then you have a very big dog with lupine traits running wild," she had told them, and went back to tighten the lug nuts on the tire.

"Looks like you 'bout got this all done. Sure you didn't just scrape your arm, gal," the bigger man had asked, eyeing her bloody arm.

She rolled the flat to the back, only then lowered the bumper after the tire was secured. She made no mention of the men not bothering to offer aid.

"This look like a scrape," she had asked, holding up her arm, and wiping the blood away with her other hand after tossing the jack, and the tire iron into the back.

The lean man tossed the flat tire carelessly into the trunk, and closed it for her.

"Looks like a bite, all right," the big man had nodded. "Better see a doc, gal. Maybe get a rabies shot, just in case."

"Yes, I was considering that. Thanks for stopping, though," she had said, moving to the passenger side now as Daphne had by then slid behind the wheel, looking anxious to be away.

"Well, I'll let the sheriff know we might have a wild critter. Doubt it's a wolf, though. Just glad you gals are all right. Drive safe now," he had said, and waved her off as she opened the door, and he led the other man back to their truck.

"That….was weird," Daphne had rasped, hand on the ignition, already starting the car even as Velma got in, and rummaged for a handkerchief from her bag to wrap around her arm.

"I'll say."

"I meant…. That….animal. Then those guys show up like that, and…. I have to be honest, Velma," she had shuddered as she put the car in gear, pulling out on the highway again. "I thought they were going to….try something."

"For a moment, so did I," she had admitted.

Then they put the night from their minds after they had driven to town, met the boys, and she had seen a doctor who told her she might need a tetanus shot, but likely no rabies shot, as he thought it was unlikely the 'dog' was rabid. Just scared.

She insisted on one anyway. He complied, but complained about unnecessary work on both their parts. That had been just less than a week ago.

Five days.

The night of the full moon, a part of her recalled. It had made changing the tire easy, because the night was so bright.

Five days. And….if she were to follow the legends, in just a few weeks, at the next full moon, she would become a wolf, too.

Not that she believed that. Only how did she explain the tail that now grew from her formerly tailless body?

Pulling out her research kit, she opened up her laptop, and began a web search for news from the county where they had traveled. She, meanwhile, pulled out a small medical kit, and took samples of blood, hair, and tissue. Including hairs that were (painfully) pulled from her tail. She put it into a padded mailing envelope, addressed it to a lab that specialized in crypto-zoology, and sealed it after carefully packing the samples. She prepared another set of samples she put into a packet addressed to a more mainstream lab that did forensic studies for major federal cases. The doctor she addressed the packet to knew her, and owed her a favor.

She was about to cash in on it.

Meanwhile, she noted her web search found five separate 'animal' attacks in the county over the past five months.

One was hers.

Four others were fatalities, all found only after the fact.

All, she noted, male. All partially eaten by their attacker.

She, and Daphne, were the only females to be assaulted, and apparently the only ones to survive.

She frowned at that.

Or, she amended, the only ones to escape.

Suppose, she asked herself, that obviously lethal beast had not been trying to kill her, but…..?

She needed more information.

First, she needed to get those samples assessed, and give her a baseline of what she might be dealing with here. Perhaps rogue genetic testing, or something of that nature. But then, she had the feeling she was going to have to go back to the county where the attack had occurred.

It looked like she had a genuine mystery of her own.

The thing was, she was supposed to go with the guys to check out a supposedly haunted inn upstate.

Well, how long could that take, she decided. She should have the samples assessed, and back by then, and then she'd see what they said. Right before she considered whether or not to involve Mystery Inc. in her very own, personal, mystery.

**SD**

"This is Douglas," she heard her caller say as she opened up her cell phone she used mostly for emergency contacts.

Shaggy eyed her as they stood in the middle of a dusty ballroom, and were supposedly looking for clues.

"I know, Doug. Did you get….?"

"Velma, you have to tell me where you got those samples," the head of the National Crypto-Zoological Foundation all but begged.

"It's part of an open case, Doug. Just tell me what you found, and when I'm ready to share, I'll tell you what I can," she said, trying to keep the uneasiness from her own tone.

Doug, she knew, only got excited about one thing.

"It's fantastic, Vel," he called her. "Simply fantastic. You have a genuine genetic hybrid. A genuine melding of wolf, and human DNA. The mesh is so smooth, so natural, you would think it was born that way. Yet, the cellular activity seems to sill be active."

"How active?"

"Vel," Doug rasped. "Whoever your sample came from? They're _still_ mutating! If I didn't know better, I'd think you found a genuine wereling! Sure you can't tell me…..?"

"I promise," she cut him off. "The moment I'm sure of anything, I'll let you have the details."

"Good. Just….be careful. According to all accounts, most werelings are known to be territorial, and _very_ aggressive. And since we both know this is a female, you'll have to be doubly careful, since if she's breeding, she's bound to be twice as aggressive."

She almost said there was no chance of that, but didn't say more.

"I'll let you know what I find out," she did say, and hung up.

"Like, what was with all the chatter, Velms," Shaggy asked in a very soft tone, still looking around the dark ballroom with concern. "That sounded like an entirely different mystery than what we're working on here. You freelancing, or something?"

"Rah," Scooby growled. "Reerancing?"

She was always astonished at how human the big Dane sounded at times. And how much he emulated Shaggy's manner, and personality.

Or maybe it was vice versa?

It was hard to say with those two. She was still half certain the animal might have been part of some unorthodox experiment in his past before Shaggy found him.

"It may be our next case, guys. For now, let's focus on finding the guy behind this haunting."

"Don't you mean the g-g-g-ghost behind the haunting," Shaggy asked uneasily, still glancing around.

"Nope. Guy. I smell aftershave. And since we both know you don't use it," she said, eyeing Shaggy's bristly, stillborn goatee, "And Fred favors designer colognes," she added, "It can only mean there is someone around here that is wearing cheap aftershave."

"Huh?"

"Ra, ruh," Scooby echoed.

"You don't smell it," she asked, sniffing the air again.

"Uh, Velms, are you sure you're okay? Because the only think I smell is dust, mold, and mildew. And, man, does it stink."

"Ra, rink," Scooby agreed.

Velma frowned, and had a thought.

"Scooby, do _you_ smell aftershave?"

The big hound glanced around, then at Velma, and then back at his master. Then swallowing hard, he lifted his nose, and sniffed.

Then sniffed again.

"Scooby?"

"Ra," he nodded. "Ris ray," he pointed with a big forepaw, and trotted toward a blank wall.

"You're right," Velma realized. "It is stronger from this direction. Let's see if we can find a hidden passage, or something here," she said, putting her hands on the wall.

"Oh, c'mon, man," Shaggy groaned. "Ghosts don't need passages. And they sure don't put those passages in walls without creepy pictures, or fireplaces. This is just…."

Shaggy almost fell back as he leaned back against the wall, and it just yielded even as his left foot landed on a hidden floor trigger near the molding. Even as he gaped, he waved him arm in a futile gesture, and landed flat on his back.

Looking up into a dark corridor, he whimpered, "Found it."

Velma sighed, and rolled her eyes.

Scooby only sniggered.

"Okay, guys. Let's explore."

"Like, do we have to," Shaggy complained.

"Yes," Velma growled, and for a moment Shaggy just stared at her.

"Fine. Fine. You don't have to bite my head off."

Scooby only sniggered at him.

"Just come on," Velma sighed, and headed into the darkness after pulling out her small mini-mag to light the darkness around them. "Let's see what we can find."

"I'd rather find the way out of here," Shaggy complained.

"C'mon, Shaggy," she sighed. "By now, you should be used to this game."

"What you call a game, I call trouble," he declared. Then froze as he heard manic laughter not far off.

"That sounded close."

"Too close," the lanky beatnik complained. "Let's go this way."

"Let's go this way," Velma corrected, and led them down into the opening of a genuine maze under the old hotel.

"Now what," Shaggy complained.

"I'll try this way. You and Scooby….."

"No way, man."

"Ricken," Scooby sniggered.

"You are, too," Shaggy charged.

"Ro," he sniggered again.

"Guys. I'll go check out the sounds. You can go find the others, and get them down here. With this kind of maze, we may need help finding all the passages so we can trap this guy."

"Fine. C'mon, Scoob," Shaggy declared, eager to be gone.

Scooby started to turn, then stopped, and sniffed again.

"What," his friend complained.

"Ry raying," he decided.

"You? S-S-Staying?"

"Rep," he nodded, and padded over by Velma.

"But….why?"

Scooby made a grunting sound, and even shrugged.

"Man, it's your funeral, Scoob."

Shaggy wasted no time in leaving.

"Thanks, Scooby," Velma smiled. "Even if I don't know why you did, I appreciate you staying."

"Ru rell good," he grinned at her.

"I….smell good?"

"Ru-huh," he nodded, and sniffed her again as they headed deeper in the mazelike tunnels.

"Not now, Scooby. Let's find…."

"You're in trouble, little girl," an indistinct silhouette in black growled. What was very clear was the very big gun in his hand pointed right at them.

"You're no ghost," she accused, staring at the big bore pistol in his hand. A .357, or even a .44. It was hard to tell just then in the dimly lit tunnel when he was just out of range of her light.

"You will be if you try anything. You yell, or try anything, and you're dead," the shadowy man said in a low, cruel tone. "Just keep walking. Straight ahead. Turn right there. See the door on the left. Inside."

"You know you can't get away with…"

The man shoved her forward, and she only realized Scooby was in front of her when she fell over him, and her glasses, and her flashlight went spinning away when she fell. Even as the door behind her clanged shut with a very final sound.

The man walked away, echoing that manic laugh.

Velma gasped as she reached for her fallen glasses, and felt the cold nose that suddenly probed between her thighs as she knelt there on the floor of their apparent cell. Suddenly she wished she tried to wear her usual panties in spite of her tail when she realized what he was doing.

"Scooby," she gasped, and then gasped anew when she felt his tongue slide along her heated lips that seemed to be reacting to his presence as if…

Even as she tried to assure herself she could not possibly be going into heat, Scooby suddenly lunged, and she realized her bare bottom was being probed by the very aroused Dane that was standing over her, and keeping her from getting up now.

"Hold on, now," she started to sputter, then yipped as Scooby just thrust hard, and buried his long, thick shaft in her from behind.

She felt as if her eyes crossed as the big animal thrust harder, and pounded his knot right into before she could try to push him away. Then he surprised her again, growling possess as he snarled, "_Rine_," even as she was rutted with genuine abandon by the aroused Dane.

It was only then that she realized her newly sensitive nostrils were picking up another scent.

Her own.

She was somehow giving off pheromones that obviously had Scooby reacting to her. In the small room where they were locked, the scent was all the stronger since there was no window. No vent. Just a stone chamber with a heavy, wooden door.

Scooby-Doo, just as sensitive as she was now to certain scents, was simply doing what even his animal instincts could not deny. Claiming a mate.

Even as he finally slowed, sighing in bestial contentment after filling her belly with his thin seed, he slid over her back, and then slowly turned to face away from her. As he did, her skirt fell away to reveal her tail secured under her baggy garment with a thin cord carefully tied to secure it in place.

Her longtime canine friend gaped, cocking his head, and then shaking it.

"Relma ra rog, roo," he asked.

"Uh, wolf, maybe," she grimaced back at the big hound.

Scooby stared at her, eyes round, and wide.

"Rah roof?"

She nodded as she knelt there, still bound to him by his swollen appendage.

Scooby's rounded eyes rolled up, and the big dog actually fainted.

Which dragged her down with him.

"Great," she sighed, and waited for his animal flesh to relax enough to release her. "This really helps."

**SD**

"Velma? Scooby?"

"You sure they came down here," Fred asked Shaggy as he and Daphne followed him.

"Yeah, man. But she was acting really weird. I mean, weirder than usual. Then she _and_ Scooby ran off, and…"

"You guys aren't going to have another personality clash, or something weird again, are you," Daphne groaned.

"No way, man. Like, that scene is total history. Old news," he sputtered at her, sometimes disliking the redhead. She had been far from sympathetic during the whole on-again, off-again, on-again, and definitely off-again relationship whirl while he and Velma tried to sort out whatever attraction they once felt for each other.

Unlike Fred, who seemed to be oblivious to everything until it fell in front of his feet.

"Velma," Daphne called out as they neared the bottom of the stairs, lifting her flashlight.

"Whoa. It looks like a maze," Fred realized.

"Or," Daphne said. "A focal point for every secret passage in, and through the old inn," she realized.

"That, too," Fred readily agreed.

Shaggy just rolled his eyes.

And almost jumped when he heard someone banging on something.

"That way," Daphne pointed down a dark corridor with no lights.

"B-B-But we want to go _away_ from the creepy sounds," Shaggy reminded her.

"And if it's Velma, or Scooby?"

"I'm not worried about them," Shaggy complained. "I'm worried about that g-ghost!"

They tracked the banging to a thick door, with a heavy bar latching the panel. It took Daphne, and Fred to pull it back, and then shove it open. Where they found Velma, and Scooby, both inside the room.

"Scoob! Man, I am glad to see you again, buddy."

"Re, roo! Relma's ra roof," the big dog informed him, eyeing her suspiciously as he now made a wide circle around her.

"Say what?"

The brunette glowered at both of them as she turned to her friends.

"Whatever is going on, it's _not_ a ghost. Ghosts don't ambush you, and use a gun to force you into tiny rooms," Velma told them.

"So, another mask," Fred sighed.

"You sound disappointed," Daphne frowned.

"Well, we do run into a lot of them. I figured we were due for the real thing this time," the blonde grinned.

"The last time we found the real thing, we had to break a demon's curse that almost sent all of us straight to….._there_," Daphne sputtered. "So, excuse me, if I think I'll take the mask."

"Whatever, this place is still creepy, man. So can we go?"

"Not until we catch this guy," Velma declared. "He thought he was going to lock us in there to die. That isn't the usual extortionist. We need to catch him, and make sure he hasn't hurt anyone else."

"I have to agree with Velma," Daphne agreed. "Who knows what this guy might do if he thought he was getting away with this stunt. Or even not."

"Right. So, the best thing to do is…..make him think he's succeeded," Fred declared.

"Huh," Shaggy frowned.

"Ruh?"

Velma sighed.

"I think I get it. We make it look like we bailed, but sneak back in to catch him."

"Exactly," Fred beamed. "Now, here's my plan," he said, and began to talk.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own any characters from Hanna-Barbarra, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Velma's Tail**

**By LJ58**

**2**

Ben Waters walked over to the lanky, shaggy-haired man in denim sitting at the end of the bar, and sat beside him.

"You actually let them go?"

"They'll be back," the man murmured, eyeing the waitress, but making no move on her.

"You figure?"

"I marked the one. And I recognized them both. They're from that crime-solving group of kids from up north. They'll be coming back to try to figure out what's happening with their friend soon enough. When they do, we bury them. _All_ of them."

"But why let her go at all?"

The lanky man scowled.

"She got in a lucky shot with that crowbar," he complained.

"Looked like a little bitty tire iron to me," the burly, stocky man with a thick beard snorted. "I thought Sandy was going to laugh himself sick."

"Yeah, well you let someone hit you in the head several times with the damn thing. That bitch wasn't scared, Ben. Not the least. She was going to stab me in the eye with that damn metal stick if I hadn't blazed."

Ben nodded.

"I get it. You want her," he grinned.

"She's going to turn. You now how it works. Now, she might survive, she might not, but that is going to bring her friends running. Her, too, if she survives," he told his brother, both of them knowing not everyone survived the first moon. If they did, the world would likely already be covered in fur.

"You're going to claim her," Ben nodded. "I get it. And the others?"

"Road kill," the lanky man growled.

"Just keep it discreet. Sheriff Lem may be slow, but he ain't stupid. Four deaths in four months is pushing it."

"I was hungry," he grumbled. "Still am."

"And, now, apparently horny."

"The wolf….it amplifies your appetites," the man told Ben. "All of them."

"Lucky you," Ben told his younger brother who had been attacked by a wolf just seven months ago while they were out hunting with friends. Only it was no ordinary wolf.

Ben, no fool, survived by fleeing up a tree. Ian survived in spite of being almost torn apart when the wolf bolted after Ben started sniping on him, driving him off by shooting from his perch. That did not save their four friends, three who died from the start. One who survived, but only to die in agony trying to change that first night on the next moon.

Only Ian survived that one.

At times, Ben wished he didn't. Even if they were kin.

"Lucky," he told his brother with a sour grimace. "Far from it, Benjy," he growled dourly. "Far from it. But that bitch, she saw me, too. She'll be back. Before, or after, she'll be back, if she lives. And then I'll claim her. Once I do, she'll be mine for life. It's….the Way. I just….feel it. She's going to be mine," Ian smiled slightly for the first time in over eight months.

"Just stick to venison and rabbit until they show," Ben told him. "The sheriff is really getting suspicious."

"Hate rabbit," Ian muttered. "Nothing but fur, and bones."

Ben said nothing to that.

He had seen the Ian's wolf the first month. He made very sure to lock himself up in the storm shelter every month since. Just in case.

Only last month, him and Sandy had to go to the city to pick up parts for Mr. Olan, since his truck broke down. They were on their way back when they saw that unlikely shadow, and he had to tell Sandy everything. And made him swear to keep his mouth shut.

Sandy, being Sandy, now wanted Ian to bite him. Sandy, the brothers knew, was an idjit.

"Just let me know if you see them before I do. Ain't but a week till the next moon. She's got to know what's happening by now," his often dour brother managed another rare, if faint smile.

"Well, I know you're randy. Just don't do anything….crazy," he said, glancing at the same waitress Ian was eyeing.

Ian said nothing as he went back to nursing his drink.

Water, Ben knew, because since he turned, Ian couldn't take alcohol. It made him let part of the wolf out early. Not something either of them wanted. A two-legged wolf with a hunger for human meat would be really hard to hide.

As it was, Ian had to wear a long coat now to hide his new body part. Humans didn't generally have tails, and it was something not easy to hide. Because unlike the myths, every wereling kept their tail even in human form. Something that would be all too easy for the wrong people to spot if they were not careful. Especially in a small town. Still, Ian could see things getting better.

Once he had a mate, he imagined being free of town, and the people in it.

**SD**

Over three weeks. Three full weeks.

There was no doubt about it. She was changing.

Her senses were sharper than ever. Her tail more…..shaggy. Even her ears seemed slightly more tapered than usual.

Shaggy kept giving her weird looks, and she had considered everything as they drove back from the allegedly haunted inn where they had uncovered a scheming relative who was just trying to drive a cousin insane to steal her heritage from her.

He wasn't above murder, either, and had apparently killed at least three people to hide the fact he was the 'ghost' haunting the old inn left his cousin. Along with the bulk of her uncle's very rich estate. He had just been unable to kill her outright, since that would have left everything to charity. Not his plan, since he was a greedy sort, planning to step in, and play 'guardian' for the unknowing woman.

Velma almost wished there was something worse than prison waiting for a madman like that. He turned on his own family for a few dollars. Well, more than a few, but still. It was just beyond her comprehension. Family should count for something. Sometimes, people really disappointed her. Then, again, there were people like her longtime friends in the van with her.

"Guys," she finally said, her last chat with Doug deciding her.

It didn't help that Myron, her forensics contact at the federal lab had suggested her samples were _contaminated_ with lupine DNA. Doug had called again, asking for an update, and suggested she be very careful as the full moon was fast approaching. He even suggested he would be happy to fly out, and join her.

Assuring him she was quite safe, and staying that way, she had absorbed more of the lore he shared.

Apparently, there was no known way for a wolf to be 'cured.' Still, it was claimed that if a wolf ate human flesh, it would be damned. And consumed by that hunger for life.

If it could resist the urge to kill, it would still be a wolf, but not damned. And it might be able to control it's appetites and rages in the future. Or so the legends claimed.

Doug wasn't sure, because lore, or not, no one actually knew a wolf that had resisted the urge to kill when the moon was high. No one that lived to tell that tale, at least.

Considering she was sitting there, itching over every inch of her body, eyeing the setting sun with trepidation, and smelling all four of her friends on a level formally impossible, even her logical mind couldn't continue to deny it.

She was a werewolf.

Or rather, she was going to be.

"Guys, we have another mystery," she said quietly as she spoke up as Fred kept driving, only Shaggy eyeing her uneasily when she spoke.

"What mystery? No one's called," Daphne pointed out.

Velma sighed, and held up her arm.

Her unblemished arm, that had healed after that first week without so much as a scar.

She looked at the pair in the front of the van, and held out her arm over Daphne's seat.

"Daph, remember last month?"

"Uh, weren't you….bitten," she frowned. "Or was it the other arm?"

Velma slid her sweater sleeve up, and held out her other arm.

"But…..?"

"I think I was bitten by…..a werewolf. A _real_ one," she said.

"Right," Fred laughed. "Sure you weren't just scared, and feeling disappointed by that phony ghost?"

Velma sighed, and right in front of Shaggy's bulging eyes, she lifted her skirt, and reached up to untie the cord that hid her tail. When it dropped free, Shaggy gave a tiny, choking sound, and passed out cold.

Scooby sniggered, but stayed close now. His own eyes fixed on Velma with a possessiveness usually reserved for food.

Daphne couldn't help but notice that look, and frowned. Then looked back over her seat, and saw the long, bushy tail.

"Velma," she choked. "Please…. Tell me that's a joke. A prank….?"

"No joke. I think I'm already starting to change."

Fred, who had just glanced back long enough to see the long tail dangling under her lifted skirt, slammed on the brakes, and slid over to the side of the road. Fortunately, no one was behind them, and they escape any accident. He turned when he put the van in park, and stared.

"Velma…..?"

"I told you. It's true. I was bitten by a werewolf. Or, more accurately, a wereling."

Fred looked back at Shaggy, shook his head, and then looked back to the brunette.

"What can we do," he asked somberly.

"We need to go back to that part of the country where we were attacked," Velma told him. "I am pretty sure there's a small town near that regoin, and someone might….know something. One thing is for certain, though, the wolf there is a killer. Four deaths in four months, and no one has caught them. If nothing else, we have to find them, and stop them. And….maybe find some answers for ourselves."

"So, if we….kill the first werewolf, does it cure you," Daphne asked her quietly.

"I…..don't know. I checked with Doug…."

"The Crypto-guy," Daphne asked. "He knows about you….?"

"No. No, I just….asked a few questions. Made it seem I was investigating someone else. Anyway, since no one has ever confirmed anything about werelings, no one really knows if killing the wolf that bites you really cures you. It's….just one of a hundred or so wife's tales out there. But, I never expected to find out they were real, either," Velma sighed, smoothing her skirt back down after she fixed her tail back in place once again.

"We'll find out," Daphne told her.

"Darn right we will," Fred agreed. "So, where's this town?"

Which was when Shaggy groaned, and slowly sat up, holindg his head.

"Man, you would not believe the dream I just had," he said, staring uneasily at Velma.

"You dreamed Velma was a werewolf," Daphne asked knowingly.

"You had the same dream," he exclaimed, staring at the redhead.

"No dream, Shaggy," Fred said. "We've got a real mystery on our hands. Ready to hunt a werewolf?"

Shaggy's head bounced off the wheelwell again.

Scooby only sniggered, and reached for the opened sack of chips near the unconscious man's hands.

"So, where are we going?"

Velma told him.

"We're going to be cutting it close," Fred grimaced. "The full moon is less than a week away. That town is six days away."

"I know," Velma said uneasily. "If you have to…..leave me behind."

Daphne reached out, and put a hand on the brunette's hand that still rested on the bac of her seat.

"No way. You're one of the team, Velma. We're not bailing on you. Right, Freddy?"

"Right," Freddy said after glancing back at Velma. "But I hope you don't mind if we look into getting some silver bullets before we arrive."

Velma said nothing to that.

**SD**

They were close now.

Part of Velma could sense the coming change.

Part of her was eager, and welcoming of the thing all but crawling just beneath her skin now.

Part of her was terrified beyond telling.

She sat in the motel room with Daphne, studying the data on the laptop as she let Daphne sleep on the bed. She was too wired to rest, and was still sifting any information she could find on the Web, or through her contacts.

Finally closing the device, she set it aside, and just turned off the lamp, still sitting in the chair near the bed. Of course, near was relative. The rooms were very small. She sighed, and realized she smelled something…..

She blushed as she realized just what she was smelling.

She glanced over at the sleeping redhead, and realized the woman smelled good. Very good. Not, sink your teeth into raw meat good, which she feared might be part of it. No, it was something else. Something….bittersweet, and musky.

Velma unconsciously licked her lips, and stood up.

Even as she padded over to the bed, she stripped out of her clothing. She took great pleasure in freeing her tail, and letting it free. She shivered, shaking bodily, and then stared down at the bed. Carefully, and very slowly, she pulled the cover down to bare the redhead to her hungry gaze.

She drew in a deep breath, and smiled.

The scent of Daphne drew her lower.

Lower.

In two days, if the rumors and stories were right, she was going to be a wolf.

A genuine wolf.

She wasn't sure what would happen then. Or if anything would happen.

She could tell things were changing, though.

She was changing.

For one, she didn't usually sniff at Daphne's panty, and enjoy the fragrant musk that suggested her friend had already been sated at least once tonight. She carefully slid those silk panties down the long, lean thighs, and then stared down at the trimmed, red curls.

She only hesitated for a second.

Then she buried her face between Daphne's thighs, lips and tongue already working to taste, and savor the fluid flesh she had bared.

Daphne moaned, and Velma looked up to see her staring down at her, eyes now open wide, and her pretty features flushed crimson.

"Don't….stop," she grit out, her gaze glazed, and hungry.

Her new pheromones, the brunette wondered. Why else would the woman so wound up with Fred suddenly be crying in need for her tongue as she laved, and teased that swollen, furred sex that was all but oozing now as she lapped, and teased it.

Just then, her own lusts roused, she turned, and planted her darkly furred flesh over Daphne's pretty face.

She only had to grind against her nose twice for her to get the message. The redhead began to lick and suck as if she had done it before. Velma didn't care. She was just enjoying the raw lust that was being roused, and sated. The surging pure, animal lusts cared nothing for who, or how. Just that her needs were being met.

Daphne was all but intoxicated by the time Velma, hungry beyond sating, nipped at her swollen, pink lips.

For a moment, she tasted blood, then pulled back and stared.

Her head spun, then she felt something rise within her that wanted to subsume her lusts. Channel them. Redirect them.

Instead, she just went back to licking at her new lover's flesh.

Daphne only moaned and cooed, begging more when she bothered to speak at all.

Which was when Velma heard the faint scratching at her door.

She grinned knowingly as she got up, padded naked over to the door, and opened it to let a very aroused Scooby-Doo into the room.

"Get in here," she all but growled.

Scooby all but lunged.

Before he finished, though, he had not only mounted Velma once more, but taken Daphne, too, who was shocked at how big, and how well the big hound screwed her silly while Velma kept her tongue busy. By the time dawn came, all three were wrung out, and very well sated.

Velma padded to the shower, waking first, and knew the energy she felt had nothing to do with sleep, what little she got.

Scooby was laying at the foot of their rumpled bed, and Daphne lay sprawled naked, well used, and showing it.

Her _pack_, Velma had the thought.

It did not displease her.

After showering, she got the lethargic redhead up, and sent her into the shower to clean up. Scooby just lay watching Velma, grinning a very masculine grin for a canine.

"Ry roof," he told her now, showing no fear this time. "_Rine_."

"That's right, boy," she smiled, and patted his big head, not bothering to put on panties since that morning she found she had a tail in the way. She reached for a clean skirt after fixing her tail up again as the sounds of Daphne waking up filled the small motel room.

Today, they would be in Deacon's Hollow. The small town near where she had been attacked.

Tonight, she also realized, she would change.

She had twelve hours to figure out if anyone knew anything about the wolf, and if there really was some way to stop it.

Only part of her now didn't want to stop it.

From what Doug had told her, it was supposedly impossible anyway. Legends aside, his studies on fresh samples had indicated the lupine DNA was bonding with the human strands, and becoming a genuine hybrid organism. Both, and yet neither. The true melding of two distinct species.

He still wanted a name. A location. He was sent promises, and she quickly logged off.

Knowing Doug, he'd be showing up himself soon if she didn't get him something to satisfy his own curiosity.

Cryptos were to Doug, what Mysteries were to her and her pack.

Pack.

She mused over that instinctive term even as she heard the shower stop, and Scooby lifted his head to glance toward the door.

The redhead came out looking flushed, confused, and very uncertain. She stared at Velma several seconds before she finally spoke.

"Did we really….? I mean, did I dream…..?"

Her eyes couldn't quite meet Velma's, but she was pointedly not looking at Scooby-Doo either.

"We fucked like _animals_," Velma said with a faint smile, and walked over, still topless, and kissed her cheek. "And there was nothing wrong with it. It was all natural."

"Okay, now I know something is going on," she said. "You never…."

"Maybe…. Maybe this thing is just….freeing my inhibitions. Showing me what I've always wanted, but never had the courage to go after myself," Velma smiled.

"You're saying you…..like me," Daphne sputtered.

"Hmmm. Rich. Pretty. Stylish. Pretty hot in the sack, too. What's not to like," Velma asked as she patted her cheek. The one on her face.

Daphne swallowed hard.

"Velma….."

"Hush. For now, it's just something two _friends_ shared. We're all under a lot of stress, and there is no telling what is going to happen today."

"Or…..tonight," Daphne said quietly.

"Or tonight. But I like to think things will work out. Somehow. After all, we're friends, and we've always been okay so long as we stick together, and do what we do best."

"So, one more mystery," Daphne smiled ruefully.

"Or, much more than one. Much more," Velma said, unaware that Daphne was gaping not at her manner, but at the fact her eyes were glittering with amber flecks.

Finally, the redhead nodded, and reached for her suitcase.

"Whatever happens, Velma," she told her, turning toward the bathroom again. "I'm with you. All the way. No one will ever be able to claim that Daphne Blake ever turned her back on her friends. Even if they were about to turn into a bloodthirsty beast from hell."

"Actually," Velma smiled. "I think I'm just a _horny_ beast," she grinned. "Can werewolves just be horn-dogs?"

Daphne burst into laughter, and Scooby sniggered, too.

"Well, I guess you'll be the first to find out," Daphne finally told her, walking over to open her suitcase.

"Daph. Whatever happens, I want you to know, I _won't_ hurt you. You're my friend. Maybe my best friend. I would never hurt you."

Daphne smiled, and blinked away a tear.

"Thanks. I'll…..just go get dressed."

"Dress here. Scooby and I don't mind the view," Velma smiled.

"Right," Daphne complained. "Then we'd never get dressed, and the boys might walk in on us. I'm not ready for _that_ much sharing," she huffed.

Velma laughed now, and smiled as the slender fashion plate walked into the bathroom to dress.

_To Be Continued…._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own any characters from Hanna-Barbarra, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Velma's Tail**

**By LJ58**

**3**

Ian smelled her. He remembered that smell, too.

Rich. Earthy. Arousing.

He was walking down the street to his truck, deciding to leave town early, just in case, and then he smelled that smell. A very familiar smell.

He turned, and saw a garishly painted van drive by, a lean blonde at the wheel.

"Mystery, INC, huh," Ian smiled. "Looks like the whole gang showed," he murmured. "Good eating tonight," he grinned to himself.

"You say something there, Waters," Lem Polanski, the aging sheriff of Deacon's Hollow asked as he walked out of a café just then.

"Uh, just staring at the hippies, sheriff," he smirked, pointing out the van that had pulled up in front of the local library. "Ain't ever' day you see something like that."

"No, it's not," the old man murmured, and nodded at him before he walked past his cruiser, and headed up the street toward the library.

Ian grinned.

"Have fun, old man. But tonight, they're mine," he murmured.

Lem, apparently not hearing, kept heading over to intercept the kids climbing out of the van with a huge hound.

"Hey, kids. What brings you into town," the aging lawman asked as he eyed the big dog. And the brunette standing close to him.

"We, ah, heard about a lot of mysterious attacks," Velma told the lawman. "We thought we might come, and check them out," she added.

"Yeah, you see, we're amateur detectives."

"We don't care for vigilantes around here," Lem told the blonde kid who looked a bit of a pushover to him. How he managed to solve anything was beyond him.

"We're not," Daphne assured him. "In fact, we prefer working with the law. We just came to check out the library, and see if they might have anything…..uh, telling in the archives. I understand this region has a history of strange animal attacks," she asked suggestively.

"Look, kids. You seem okay to me. So, do yourselves a favor, and go home. These mountains can be dangerous to people that do know them. They're downright unforgiving to strangers."

"We've faced danger before," Fred put in. "Mystery, Inc.," he smiled, indicating the colorful logo on the van. "We've faced lots of danger, and always come out on top."

"Not always, man," Shaggy muttered sourly.

Lem eyed the obvious beatnik, but didn't smell anything like pot on him. Still, it wouldn't surprise him. Skinny kid like that had to be using something.

"Look, just visit the library if you want, but don't go making trouble in my county. Got it, kids," the old lawman demanded.

"Yes, sir. We understand. We aren't here for trouble," Velma said earnestly. "We just try to help where we can, when we can."

"All the same, you stay out of those mountains. They ain't safe at certain times. Especially to outsiders."

"Like….full moons, dude," the beatnik asked, sounding genuinely terrified. "Are you saying…..?"

Lem sighed, and eyed the obvious craven.

"I'm saying, stay out of other folks' business, boy."

"Yes, sir," Shaggy told him quickly. "No problem. Absolutely. You heard him, guys. Nothing to see here. We might as well go home. Right?"

"Shaggy," Velma glared at him.

"But he said…."

"Inside," Fred said, shoving the beatnik past Lem.

He shook his head, and watched the group go inside.

Weird, but that dog of theirs actually sounded like it had snickered at the one kid. Weird.

**SD**

"We know something is going on," Daphne said as they drove out of town a few hours later. "An entire town that knows nothing about werewolves," she sniffed.

"Yet they all said to stay off the mountain," Velma nodded at her. "Which is very close to where we were attacked last month."

"So, like, shouldn't we avoid that place, then? I mean, we never did find any silver bullets."

"Shaggy," Velma scowled. "We're here to find answers. Not shoot anyone."

"But werewolves aren't people," he protested.

"Really," Velma asked dryly.

"Uh…. Uh….. Uh….."

"Sun's going down," Fred said quietly, eyeing the stocky brunette. "So, what's the plan, Velms?"

"We try to catch this guy," Daphne said. "We'll find a likely place, set a trap, and try to lead him to it."

"Catch him," Shaggy whined.

"If we can hold him till sunrise, we can find out who he is, and get the answers we need from him," Velma agreed. "Of course, that also means I'd better….leave soon. Just in case."

"I trust you, Velma. I know you won't hurt us," the redhead said firmly, nodding her head as Fred checked the rearview mirror, and then pulled off the road.

"That makes one of us," Shaggy muttered uneasily.

"Re, roo," Scooby declared. "Relma ris _roray_," he nodded.

"Scoob? Are you nuts?"

"Rope," the big Dane grinned. "Ry roof."

Scooby rolled his eyes.

"Man, has the whole world gone nuts?"

"You always ask that," Fred said, finally stopping just out of sight of the road. "Now, let's get that gear we brought, and get to work. Night isn't far off."

**SD**

Ian had a sour expression as he walked out of his house that night, and lifted his head to sniff the air.

Ben, the coward, had already bolted himself behind the reinforced storm cellar doors.

Well, maybe that was smart. Ian was having a lot more trouble controlling his other side lately. It was like he was getting….meaner. Not that he cared. He was sure the new bitch, who had very obviously lived, would help temper his sour moods.

They could even get married, and live in the wild, and enjoy the moon times together while they hunted trespassers on their mountain.

It would be great, he decided.

Stripping off his clothes, he began loping into the forest even before the moon came up. He didn't really need it. He just enjoyed the wild more and more of late, and at times he wished he could just lose himself to the wolf, and never have to go back.

That would be paradise to his mind just then.

He was almost down the slope near the highway when he heard voices.

That was when he saw the redhead standing near the chubby girl that smelled strongly of wolf. His bitch.

He grinned, and stepped out.

"Ladies. I think we've got some _unfinished_ business," he grinned, and suddenly shook his head, one eye twitching as the wolf just…..rose up, and consumed him.

One moment he was upright, and the next he was on all fours, snarling as he eyed the redhead that had just stared at him as he changed.

"Fred," she shrieked even as Velma changed, and dropped to all fours as she just shredded her clothes. "It's here!"

Velma rolled over by then, all wolf, and looked up at her as a low growl rose out of her throat.

"Velma. Velma, it's me," Daphne cried, her eyes bright as the big, black wolf snarled, stalking her as the boys had gone one way, and she and Scooby another as they had scoured the woods for clues. "Remember? C'mon, Velma, you have to….."

The snarl took her by surprise as a huge, dark-brown blur Velma had become streaked past her, slamming into the darker wolf, and sending it bowling.

The newcomer snarled viciously, and then turned to Daphne, eyeing her with golden eyes.

"Velma," she squeaked, gaping at the pair circling one another with cold eyes.

"Rets ro," Scooby barked, running to join them from wherever he had been, all but grabbing Daphne's hand, and tugging. "Raph, rets ro!"

She could see the fear in his eyes. He was scared.

Daphne was terrified.

"Find the guys, Scooby! Quick! I'll climb a tree. Wolves _can't_ climb," she said as the two wolves now circled one another, snarling low as they regarded one another.

Every time the black brute neared Daphne, still trying to clamber up the tree, the brown wolf charged, herding him back.

Daphne gave a sigh of relief, and then ran for a more likely tree, using her natural agility to swing up, and into the branches as Scooby ran. Likely for his life. Big as he was, she knew he was no match for a genuine werewolf.

And if she had seen anything tonight, it was a real man, turn into a wolf, and start attacking her.

She settled in the branches, and stared down, watching as Velma kept herself between the bigger wolf, and the tree. Just in case.

The wolf snorted at Velma, growling, then started sniffing.

It suddenly made an angry snarl, and Velma growled right back in renewed fury, baring very large fangs.

The wolf lunged again, this time sounding even more vicious.

Just before it could close on Velma, twin booms echoed through the forest as the big, black wolf was flung back, landing in a rolling heap before it stilled. Daphne gasped as the old sheriff walked out of the night, holding up a big shotgun as he loaded it even as Velma eyed the fallen wolf.

Then Daphne realized the old man had now aimed the reloaded weapon at her friend.

_"No,"_ Daphne shouted as the sheriff raised the old shotgun up to aim at the winded, and bloodied brown wolf now. "She's not a killer!"

"That right," the old man asked, just eyeing Daphne as she ran from the tree where she had just dropped down, then came over, and knelt at Velma's side without hesitation. Even putting her arms around the winded animal.

"See? She's my friend. She's no killer. She was saving my life. That other….other….."

Daphne looked, and could only stare.

The wolf was gone now. Only a lanky man with too-long hair lay sprawled where it had been. A very large hole blown in his chest where his heart had been.

Velma looked up, and whimpered as she put a big paw on Daphne's lap.

"See? She knows me. She won't hurt anyone. She's never been a killer. You don't have to kill her," Daphne told the sheriff as he kept his weapon at the ready.

"Velma! Daph!"

She turned to see the boys running up with Scooby just then, and the big hound eyed the dead man before circling around to join the girls.

"Relma? Ru roray"

"Your dog…..talks," Lem blinked as the big Dane eyed the brown wolf with evident concern.

"Doesn't everyone's," Shaggy grinned uneasily.

"You kids were the ones Ian attacked last month, weren't you," Lem finally said, lowering his shotgun.

Velma pushed to her feet, the bloody wounds on her body from her fight healing even as Daphne stared at her.

"Yes," Daphne said. "We came back to find out what was going on. Especially after…."

"Your friend started turning into a wolf?"

"Yeah," Shaggy said. "But I thought if you killed the old werewolf, you were cured, man. Why isn't Velms changing back?"

The sheriff just eyed him, then turned to Daphne.

"Superstition aside, I can tell you sure that the wolf is like a _virus_. Once it's in you, there ain't but one way to be rid of it."

He drew a finger across his own neck.

"Velma isn't a killer," Daphne said again, still kneeling beside the big wolf, stroking its dark head.

"And how about _you,_ little lady?"

"Me? But…..?"

"I been hunting wolves most of my life," the sheriff told her. "I got a sense for them. You been touched, too. I half expected you to turn tonight, too, since you're together."

"But I wasn't bitten," she protested as Velma gave a whine as she put her very big head against her chest.

"Let me guess. You two are _lovers_?"

Daphne blushed as Shaggy gaped, and Fred sputtered, blurting out, "Of course not!"

"Actually, Fred….."

"_You_? And the _Velmster_," Shaggy exclaimed. "Man, I did _not_ see that coming."

"Ry roofs," Scooby drawled in his canine voice, eyeing the sheriff coolly.

"That'll do it," Lem nodded as the boys eyed the girls with obvious shock. "You share anything. Blood. Saliva. _Sex_," the sheriff told the redhead, "And the wolf gets you. I told you, it's like a virus."

"Remind me not to drink after her any more," Shaggy whispered to Scooby, who sniggered at him.

Daphne just stared, then finally looked up at the old man, and said, "I'm not a killer either," she told him quietly.

The old man nodded, then pulled out two shotgun shells.

"Pure silver loads," he told Daphne, handing them to her. "Just in case."

She took the shells, and stared at them as Velma just stared up at them.

"Must be a right good friend," the sheriff finally said. "Never seen a wolf wasn't trying to rip you apart. Never. I hope that don't change," he told the group. "Now, best you kids leave town, while I conjure up a hunting accident that folks will find believable."

"Thank you, Sheriff Polanski," Daphne said, rising to her feet as Velma stayed close to her side.

"Just be careful. And remember, don't take chances," he nodded at Fred. "Wolves are wild at heart, and if you try to chain one, they'll only fight all the more to be free."

Velma snorted, and leaned her head into Daphne's side.

"Then again, they're _also_ damned protective of their own. Maybe that was your ace, little lady," Lem told Daphne. "I hope it stays true. For all of you."

No one said anything to that as Daphne looked over at Scooby, who was looking back at her with bright eyes.

Eyes flecked with amber.

She swallowed hard.

"Let's get out of here, guys. Looks like this case is over," the redhead told the boys quietly.

"Rah. Rover," Scooby agreed with relief as they walked back toward the clearing where the Mystery Machine was hidden.

"Talking dogs, and lesbian werewolves. Just when I didn't think I would ever see anything new," he chortled as the sheriff turned, loaded the shotgun with two spent standard shells, and then leaned it over a nearby branch as if it had fallen there.

"Too bad you weren't watching where you lay that gun, Ian. Too bad," the sheriff said, and loped off toward his car, his dark glasses hiding the gleam of crimson red in his own eyes. A souvenir left him from a bad hunt that got him tangled up in a nest of vamps.

Still, he had survived.

_ They_ didn't.

He genuinely hoped the kids made out, though. They did seem decent enough.

You just never knew, though. Not when it came to the spook stuff. You just never knew.

**SD**

Ben was chopping wood when Lem drove up to his cabin where he and Ian lived after the family house burned down, killing everyone inside except the brothers.

Ben knew better. Sometimes, he thought the sheriff did, too.

That had been the first time Ian changed. He killed the family. Parents. Ben's wife. Even the kids. If Ben had not been working late that night, he'd be dead, too. He came home to a grizzly scene, and a blandly staring brother who had never so much as raised his hand against anyone.

Except he had been covered in blood.

Surrounded by mauled, almost completely eaten bodies.

That was when they moved into the woods. That was when Ben took to hiding in the storm cellar.

When Lem drove up, he wondered if he had finally figured it out.

"Ian ain't here," he told the man.

"I know. Hiker found him out in Gray Woods south of the ridge."  
"Found him," Ben frowned now.

"Looks like a hunting accident. Although I'm not sure why he was naked," Lem drawled casually. "That boy never did have sense, though. Looked like his shotgun went off, and blew out his chest when he tripped."

"He's…..dead," Ben frowned.

Part of him was horrified. Another part relieved.

Still, he had seen Ian survive some hellish things since he had changed. When he went through a suicidal phase, he tried almost everything, and didn't so much as have a scar for hit. They heard about silver, of course, but that was expensive. Somehow, the brothers didn't think asking to borrow enough silver to make a bullet to kill a werewolf would have gone over too well.

Not in their town.

"He's really dead," he finally croaked.

"Well, he's got a hole where his heart used to be. That's about as dead as you can get, Ben," he told him. "Gonna be an autopsy, of course, but…. Well, it's just standard stuff. Ain't gonna be any doubt about what happened," he said so blandly that Ben knew Lem knew the truth. He definitely knew.

"Maybe….it's for the best," Ben finally managed to say.

"Good Lord sends good and bad to all of us, Ben," Lem told him. "It's up to us to play the hand."

"Yeah. Guess you're right, Sheriff. Uh, when can I….see him?"

"Down at Duggins' Mortuary by now. I reckon you can go by any time, being as you're family."

Ben nodded.

Ian was gone.

The wolf was gone.

Then he had another thought.

What had happened to the wolf that had turned him? Sure, they ran him off that long ago night, but he was still out there. Then, too, what had happened to the bitch he wanted? That girl that Ian had turned?

Maybe he better keep that cellar ready all the same, he decided. Just in case.

**SD**

"Man, Velma's drooling," Shaggy complained, backing away from the big wolf in the back of the van with him.

"I think she smells those burgers we ordered," Daphne laughed, and handed the sacks back. "Better give her something to eat before her belly rumbles any louder than yours."

"Very funny. I'm not that….."

She laughed as Shaggy reached for the sacks, but never got them as Velma snapped with her big jaws, rending both sacks, and then snapping up the fallen food with large, quick bites, wrappers, and all.

"Man," the beatnik groaned. "That is so unfair."

"And now you know how _we_ usually feel," Daphne laughed.

"So," Fred murmured. "You think the old man was right? You think you're going to change, too, Daph?"

Daphne stared over at him as he drove them home, the moon shining high overhead in the sky.

"What I think…..is as long as we're together, we'll all be all right. After all, Velma didn't really change. She's _still_ our friend, and she saved my life tonight," she smiled.

"And you guys really…..? That is, you….?"

Fred stopped stammering, then shook his head.

"You know," he finally blurted.

Velma's big head suddenly rested on Daphne's shoulder, amber eyes flitting between them.

"She's my friend, Fred. _Our_ friend. I still love you, too, Fred, but we're going to have to be really careful until we're sure one way, or the other. Because from what the sheriff said, just having sex….."

Fred swallowed hard.

"I'm not really sure I want to be an over-grown dog," he stated tactlessly.

Velma snorted, and Daphne laughed as Scooby growled, "Rey! Rhats rong ri'h rogs?"

"Man, this scene just keeps weirder, and weirder," Shaggy complained, and eyed a burger that Velma hadn't gobbled. He was reaching for it, when she looked back at him, and very blatantly winked at him.

Shaggy snatched the fat, greasy burger, and gobbled it down almost as fast as she had.

Only he first pulled off the wrapper.

"Rheres rine," Scooby complained.

Daphne only chortled as they drove away from the small town they had just left behind.

Far away, on the edge of a mountain, the echoing howl of a wolf sounded before it faded away. Overhead, the full moon shone in the sky, lighting up the area for miles around. Showing everything, and revealing nothing.

_End…?_


End file.
